


When the Nickel Stars Settle in the Dust

by AnonymousSpacePrince



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Established Relationship, Love Poems, M/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:18:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10038002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousSpacePrince/pseuds/AnonymousSpacePrince
Summary: Five poems Nursey wrote for Dex, and one Dex wrote him in return.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from a Neil Hilborn poem, Liminality.
> 
> All six poems in this work were written by me. Every word, every line, every stanza. If you claim any of them as your own, or use them for anything without asking my permission first, I will be very sad, very angry, and again, very sad, in that order.

i.   
  
_Countless times_  
_your knuckles have touched my jaw._  
_Twice, a collision._  
_Once, an admission._  
_Many more, a caress._  
  
_One time they left blood;_  
_Once, ink,_  
_from where I'd drawn my name_  
_on your skin,_  
_a temporary mark._  
  
_My breath is unbreathed,_  
_my heart on my sleeve,_  
_but these words,_  
_they don't mean shit to me._  
_Not like you._  
  
_If you're fire and I'm ice,_  
_the metaphor needs_  
_improvement,_  
_because you sure do make me melt,_  
_but I don't put you out._  
  
  
ii.  
  
_If you were a month,_  
_I think you'd be October._  
_Your air is cold,_  
_but everything about you is so warm,_  
_and orange._  
  
_You're always changing;_  
_becoming more beautiful._  
_The thing is:_  
_nobody hates October._  
_At least, I've never met anyone who does._  
  
_The thing is:_  
_sometimes you have to fall apart_  
_before you can be better._  
_The leaves have to fall,_  
_so new ones can grow._  
  
_If you were a month,_  
_you'd be October,_  
_because you remind me of home,_  
_just because you're you,_  
_no particular reason._  
  
  
iii.  
  
_It's a slow-moving morning,_  
_the kind where everything aches._  
_I had too many drinks last night,_  
_then one for the road._  
  
_Poor judgement call on my end,_  
_And you, chanting "chug chug chug!"_  
_surely didn't help the situation._  
_But I don't blame you._  
  
_It's not your fault that I feel like_  
_the tin man from The Wizard of Oz,_  
_begging for someone to oil my_  
_stiff, aching joints._  
  
_The only thing I can accuse you of_  
_is having a hell of a good time._  
_That, and being my motivation_  
_for not staying in bed._  
  
  
iv.

Ode to Fury  
  
_Your rage grows beyond my reach._  
_I cannot touch the fire that has sparked_  
_from your skin._  
  
_I see the flames in the back of your throat_  
_as you yell, and I know they're coming up_  
_from your belly_  
  
_where all the rage waits uninspired,_  
_for someone to say the wrong words or_  
_look the wrong way._  
  
_I wish that I were made of water, so_  
_I could kiss you until the flame dims,_  
_and then back down,_  
  
_but I am fire too, a cold blue that_  
_burns tranquil but scalds the skin the_  
_second I touch it._  
  
_I will never dance, vivid and bright,_  
_with a hot, wicked tongue and a_  
_bright orange body,_  
  
_but it was I who destroyed the glass_  
_bottle on my windowsill, and tore a_  
_hole in my pillow_  
  
_with nothing but my angry fingernails._  
_Because you are loud and vicious and I_  
_only appear cool._  
  
  
v.  
  
_I always got myself into trouble,_  
_because I'm a hopeless romantic_  
_with a penchant for poetry._  
_Not a good combo, I'll tell you,_  
_for falling in love._  
  
_My seventh grade girlfriend,_  
_with whom I never fell in love_  
_like I thought I did,_  
_never lived up to the relationships_  
_I conjured up in my head._  
  
_My ninth grade boyfriend:_  
_I loved him, but he didn't love back,_  
_and it didn't break my heart,_  
_because he was more of an anchor_  
_than a life boat, anyway._  
  
_Junior year, I fell in love for real,_  
_and she loved back hard._  
_She gave me butterflies in places_  
_that weren't hollow enough for_  
_them to fly._  
  
_I didn't bring her with me to the future,_  
_because it just wasn't special enough._  
_I didn't linger on her every word,_  
_like I imagined I was supposed to._  
_It was my biggest regret._  
  
_Then I met you, all concrete walls_  
_and temper oscillating like a motel fan._  
_You just waltzed into my life,_  
_proved my romantic heart right_  
_with a single smile._  
  
_Because, wow, when you smiled,_  
_and I knew I caused it,_  
_it made my skin feel like_  
_a wild succession of popping bubbles._  
_Soft and tingly, in the sweetest way._  
  
_I'm glad I left Marjory in the past;_  
_held onto hopeless romantic hope._  
_Maybe this once-in-a-lifetime thing_  
_has some truth to it. All I know is,_  
_you better believe I linger on all your words._  
  
  
+1

For Derek  
(the only person I'd ever write poetry for)  
  
_Poetry isn't my thing,_  
_and I don't really know how it works,_  
_but it looks to me like_  
_meaningful words separated by lines,_  
_so here goes nothing._  
  
_I'm not good with words._  
_When I try to tell you that I love you,_  
_it comes out like "you're an asshole."_  
  
_But I try to make you understand_  
_by holding your hand_  
_in front of all our friends, like we're_  
_a single person, bound_  
_by the limbs that form against each other._  
  
_I try to make you understand,_  
_by kissing you with all the fire in me;_  
_I hope you can taste the words I can't say._

**Author's Note:**

> "Is it okay?"
> 
> "This is my new favourite poem, Will."
> 
> Will is ready to retort, a chirp building on his tongue, but he looks up and stops short. Derek is looking down at the torn out page of notebook paper and Will's scribbled handwriting the way he looks at Will himself, all soft eyes and earnest smile. Will realises it wasn't a chirp at all, and he feels warm.


End file.
